Sichuan’s ‘ Mine Mother’ raises 7 children including 4 orphans

The story of a woman from Sichuan who took in four orphans and raised them along with her own three children despite meager income has moved local residents, who began referring to her as ‘Mine Mother‘ when she took up grueling work like coal mining and trash collecting so that she could support her family.In 1985, Liu Xueying moved from Yunnan to Sichuan with her husband and three children for work. Their home, a low adobe covered only with layers of tent as a roof, was situated on the hillside.One day in 1990, Liu was out collecting trash when she came across an abandoned child named Gu Lihuawen. She took him home to take care of him, and eventually, took him in as her son permanently.In 1998, she took in two siblings, Luo Xiaomei and Luo Gangdi, after they’d lost support from their family and in 2003, a one-year-old child named Ma Song, who was abandoned by his parents following a divorce, became Liu’s fourth adopted child.Her husband’s low salary wasn’t enough to support the family of nine, and since Liu had never been to school, she found work assisting local farmers in return for food and supplies.Over the years, she took up work in construction, underground coal mining, and collecting garbage to keep the family well-fed and comfortable.Now grown up, all of the children except for the smallest have either found a job or graduated from school.The seven children reportedly call their mom very frequently, and during this year’s Spring Festival, all nine family members gathered at their home and spent the holiday together.